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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Hi, Mac, I am speaking for myself, of course. I was ringing steadly with the idea of loosing something due to bad buying decisions, having the steady pain of having to find on optimal long time ackqusisition. Especially because I was grown up in older traditionalist family in relatively hard economical decades in a country of Europe's soviet-occupied former eastern block - Hungary, where the posession of old goods was dire and material things highly esteemed. And now we all are living in "disposable" societies. Digital technology especially is constructed with disposable bricks.

I found quiet comforting the idea to think of my tools and other possessions as rental objects rather than ethernal or at least life-long possessions, something to be inheritable - because otherwise facing loss of value was a steady pain.

The 3-5 ys. replacement cycle is just my pace derived from this everyday phylosophy. I sold my 5 ys. of CA51 for half of it's original price (actually partially paid for my newly built clavichord with it) - not because it was not functioning for me. I could use it for another 3-5 ys, but I weighted up the higher risk of an older over-used instrument without any warranty to get broken down, and that it's state is now a good value for somebody, but in another 3 ys. I cannot recommend it at all against a cheap state-of-theart instrument anymore. And yes, I weighted up my need for some benefits of an up-to-date action - Kawai's recent 3 sensor actions are 2 generation over my AWA GrandProII - James said somewhere about an 8 ys. old such keybed that it might be ripe for regulating...

This sort of viewing things is just my relationship to the gears of my work and hobbies, and helped me personally a lot to see things more relaxed. I am free to update a keyboard e.g., if I need an improvement - cost is not a scandal but a calculated factor.

It may be all very trivial, but one collegue of mine is irritated by this viewing of things, he thinks in a "my house is my castle" way - it is just his way.

Ive got a novation remote zero 61 key, but I'd rather not have to reach too far, so if I can sit something right on the vpc that would be a great solution

If you like the Novation, you can always try the Novation Remote Zero SL, which is just the MIDI controls with no keyboard attached. I have the original version sitting on my Korg SP-250 and it's really excellent. They now sell the Mk II, which is slightly different.

Note to self: In the future, do not buy big expensive console piano a few months before NAMM, only because of its great action to use it solely with VSTs and headphones.

You know ... one of the things you need to come to grips with in the midst of all this technology and "cool" keyboards, etc ... is this ...

Are you in this to learn to play the piano really well ?

OR ...

Are you more interested in playing with all sorts of "cool" sounding equipment and always on the lookout for the next inovation ?

There is absolutely no end to the technology.

But, if you wish to learn to play well ... you have all you need right now.

Yes, I believe we are actually on the same page here.

My point with that little „note“ was not about wanting to stay up to date all the time, but to get all the features I need in the least expensive, most convenient package.

I recently bought my CA95 mainly because of its great GF action. Then, despite its vast tweaking abilities I soon found myself enjoying it more with VSTs and headphones, which means that I’m currently not using a big part of its feature set like the internal sound engine and soundboard system.

Assuming that the new Kawai VPC will feature the GF action, had I waited a bit I could soon have gotten this one instead of the CA95, with the exact same result (sound and action) for less money.

Though I do admit the CA95 looks very beautiful, which certainly contributes its part to the whole piano playing experience.

FWIW, I owned my previous Yamaha CLP 170 for more than 7 years before I sold it to a friend, who continues to enjoy it immensely.My desire to upgrade to the Kawai actually only arised because last year I started to rent a practice room with a Blüthner grand. The gap between that one and the CLP was too big for frequent readjustment.

Now, it's not like the VPC announcement would cost me any sleep. I could afford the CA95 and I'm really happy with the action, so I'm bound to enjoy it for a very long time. As said before, if the desire to update arises it's now a question of updating the VST side rather than replacing the whole piano to get better sound, which is comparatively cheap and convenient.

I don't have to buy things, which I don't use (internal sounds, amp, boxes, menu, lcd), and which are amortising quicker than the phyisical parts such as keybed.

I considered to buy a slightly better instrument just to make a better investment value return by calculating better demand and retail for used. But I am using almost exclusively VSTs, active monitors with subwoofers, PC-Audio interfaces too...

@ColdSalmon; having had two MKII Novation units I found the touch control to be too sensitive. If you moved one knob , very often other parts of the controller reacted too and shifted some values, or jumped to another page / ctrl value or knob. Could be just me of course, but I would suggest you try the MKII very seriously before buying and see if it works for you. The software matured during the years. Knobs and sliders are fine (though too sensitive for me) , pads are so so and XY control is totally worthless. So far on the Novation. (Better/ more flexible interfacing with SW than M-Audio IMHO). It's on the market for quite a while; I would wait for NAMM and see if new controller boxes will show up (Novation MKIII, new stuff).

It's a great idea.... I'm going to be really interested in how it fares. One thing I do know is that it's a predominetly home user product. The number of people screaming for a no frills controller with a state of the art action has been huge .... Now it's time for them to put up or shut up. The Roland a-88 is a similar idea but has control surfaces that pros and live players will appreciate but the action won't compete with the VPC. It "should" sell well "if" Kawai can market it correctly AND manage to supply it through their various channels. They need to get it into the web stores and chains at a decent price in good quantities and market it carefully. We shall see what happens I guess.

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"I'm still an idiot and I'm still in love" - Blue Sofa - The Plugz 1981 (Tito Larriva) Disclosure : I am professionally associated with Arturia but my sentiments are my own only.

I am wondering if this Kawai VPC would have a hollow space wide enough to fully accomodate a Nord Piano inside So, you store your NP into the Kawai VPC at home and get it out for gigging only It could as well be marketed as a "hard case for your Nord NP with a proper hammer action embedded"

Too bad it isn't built into a flight case. I can't say I like the slightly rounded and somewhat angled top, it seems like the style-over-substance group was given too much control (as usual, when will the madness end?). I wonder if it has a music rest? A 3 pedal unit? A custom stand? 5 pin DIN MIDI connector?

Unfortunately I haven't seen what action it will use anywhere. Could be a plastic action, could be a wood action. Could be one of the latest generation (GF and RH2) or it could be an older action. Two sensor, three sensor. As far as I've seen there is no information on these questions.

Actually it looks to me like it might be software to edit the controller itself. The curve looks like its adjusting the velocity response. Since I don't see any knobs, display or menus on the controller itself, then it either hides them or uses software.

update: Looking closer maybe a DAW program like reaper, it allows you to change the look using themes.

Edited by Kbeaumont (01/16/1301:49 PM)

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A long long time ago, I can still rememberHow that music used to make me smile....

Thank you James... Yeah, it seems like I really have to wait, and not try to figure when it will happen. But anyway, another stupid question LOL: Will Kawai return to the Workstation/Synths market? It's a question that many here on Brazil ask a lot of times on a Brazilian Keyboard Forum.

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"But its got a crap keyboard action Dave ... no amount of great sounds help that."Dr. Popper